LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Reduces Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. reduced its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 59.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,377 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 28,004 shares during the quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,306,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 4,031 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 115.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 43,985 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,004,000 after purchasing an additional 23,586 shares during the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $236,000. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $970,000. Finally, Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,816 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $694,000 after acquiring an additional 1,908 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $168.17 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $112.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.94. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $144.15 and a 12-month high of $210.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $193.70 and a 200 day moving average of $186.78.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total value of $17,280,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,143,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $543,199,564.80. This represents a 3.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.00, for a total transaction of $122,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 41,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,452,332. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 669,248 shares of company stock valued at $126,423,337 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on PANW. Morgan Stanley set a $496.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group set a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Piper Sandler raised Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.07.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.